Coffee Stains and Candle Wax
by ThePaperBagPrincess
Summary: The Next Generation in 31 snapshots.  Drabble collection for PrincessPearl's challenge.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: The Next Gen characters do not belong to me.**

**A/N: This will be a drabble series written for PrincessPearl's 'coffee and candle flavours' challenge, for which I am taking 25 sets of prompts, each one including either a flavour of coffee or a candle scent, as well as a (next gen) pairing and several extra prompts.**

**~Number 1~**

**~Coconut Bay**

_**~pairing: james/oc****/albus~**_

__~**_extra prompts: gravity, illustrious, mellow_~**

When you've screwed up your life so badly that there's nothing left to do except run away, the Caribbean is as good an option as any. And lying in a sandy bay under a coconut tree, feeling pleasantly mellow from the cocktail she's just drunk, she can almost forget the gravity of the situation; forget that as an illustrious international Quidditch player, you cannot run away to the Caribbean without losing your place on the team and making newspaper headlines; forget the mess she has made of everything.

Forget that she had something precious and wonderful with the black-haired boy with greengreen eyes and an overly serious expression except when that mischievous smile lights up his face. Forget about the stupid, painful argument about nothing that left her shaking with anger, and then, when the first fury was passed, with desolation because he'd walked away and left her and she'd lost him. Forget about the emotional night that followed when she tried to drown her sorrows and only succeeded in drowning her mind. Forget about the drunken kiss she could hardly remember anyway, with the laughing, brown-haired young man with a wicked glint in his eye.

Forget about the expression in those greengreen eyes, which she could remember only too horribly clearly, when he walked through the door to find her locking lips with his brother.

Here, she can almost forget all that.

But not quite.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: As per the rules, I split the main prompt into two separate words in this one...  
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**~Number 1~**

**~Baked Alaska~**

~**_characters: molly and lucy~_**

**~_extra prompts: hotel, luxury~_**

Maybe living with your sister wasn't necessarily such a bad idea after all.

Of course, neither of them had any money, so they didn't have much option, but neither wanted to go home and admit this fact to their father (who would give either of them a loan, but would combine it with a lecture) so living with each other seemed the best option.

And she had no money to go out, but a night in with Molly wasn't as bad as she'd have expected it to be a couple of months ago, Lucy thought as she put a forkful of baked beans (cheap and easy) into her mouth.

"Some day," Molly said tiredly, "I'm going to chuck it all in and go traveling."

Lucy swallowed her mouthful as she thought about this, looking around their small flat, which seemed drab no matter what they did to it, and was in what seemed to be the most boring part of London. She listened to the rain battering the window; it had been raining all day.

"Can I come?" she asked, "Where would you go?"

"The Mediterranean," Molly said decidedly, "I'd stay in a luxury hotel and have cappuccinos and croissants by the pool for breakfast.

Lucy pulled a face.

"Really? Wouldn't you want to go somewhere more exciting? Somewhere you could get out into the wilderness and have adventures…"

"Like where?"

"Alaska?" Lucy suggested.

Molly shrugged.

"Not my idea of a holiday. But if you'll try my luxury hotel, I'll try Alaska…"

And they sat for a few minutes in silence, thinking of far away places, then caught each other's eyes and smiled at each other. Because live might be shit at times, but it was good to have a sister, after all.


	3. Chapter 3

**~Number 3~**

**~French Vanilla~**

**~_pairing: dominique/lorcan~_**

**_~extra prompts: foam, glitter, mercy~  
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The French house smells of vanilla, the scent he will forever associate with her.

He remembers her, the girl with the infectious smile and the gleaming gold hair. She glitters in his memory, and it is partly the light on the jewellery she wears; the jangling bangles and the eccentric bits and pieces she searches out in flea markets and Muggle junk shops. But it is partly just her; those eyes the colour of speedwell, her easy chatter, her charm, and the scent of vanilla that hung around her.

It is a long time since she relocated to France; a long time since she was a twenty one year old dreamer trying to be a novelist, and he was a lovestruck schoolboy, intoxicated by her beauty.

He was travelling through France on his way to Italy, and he sent her a card, thinking it would be nice to see her after all that time. The intensity of first love is gone, but Lysander would tease him without mercy, he thinks ruefully, if he knew that Lorcan still felt a flicker of the heart at the memory of her. Her house is above the cliffs, where the sea foams at the bottom, and as she answers the door, he is transported back five years. Her laugh is the same; her hair is the same; she still wears the same jewellery, and she still smells of vanilla.

And do what he will, he is still slightly in love with her.


	4. Chapter 4

**~Number 4~**

**~Orange Coconut~**

**_~pairing: lily/scorpius~_**

**~_extra prompts: swirl, envelope, glamour~_  
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With a swirl of orange silk, she envelopes him in a hug of the bone-crushing sort that he's only ever had from Lily. She smells of the coconut-scented oil she uses to take the greasepaint off.

"Scorpius! You came!"

He grins, although somewhat sheepishly, since he knows that he's been terrible at keeping in touch. Since his break-up with Rose, he has avoided all of her family, even Lily. He'd hoped that nobody had noticed; that the glamour of Lily's new world would have kept her distracted; but judging by her expression of surprised delight, she has noticed all right.

"Course I did!" is all he says, "It's your first time as the leading lady! I wouldn't miss it…"

The smile she rewards him with makes him glad he made the effort (because he almost chickened out) and it also makes his heart beat in a way he isn't sure he understands. Because this isn't Rose, it's _Lily_, his best friend.

He watches the show, and it is good. Lily is dazzling, and the audience go wild.

His eyes dwell only on her, and he knows that something has changed forever.


	5. Chapter 5

**~Number 5~**

**~Christmas Cookie~**

**_~pairing: roxanne/lysander~_**

**_~extra prompts: psychic, crystal, reindeer~_  
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She crashes into the kitchen, endless scarves and skirts swirling around her and ribbons in her hair, and finds him standing at the table, flour up to his elbows and a smudge of cookie dough on his nose.

"Ly!" she shrieks excitedly, "Ly, guess what? I'm psychic!" She thrusts a large (and fake) crystal ball under his nose and her voice takes on a mystical air, "I can read your mind, you know."

He rolls his eyes.

"No you can't. That's not even what you use crystal balls for. Anyway, it's all rubbish," he says with all the certainty of his twelve years, and turns back to the table.

She giggles, not remotely offended.

"What are you doing?" she asks, curiosity distracting her as she peers over his shoulder as he draws a picture of a reindeer onto one of his cookies.

"Making Christmas cookies," he says happily.

"But it's July, not Christmas…"

"Well, you're not psychic either," he points out, as if this explains it perfectly.

They look at each other for a moment, then burst into giggles.

And perhaps this is why, even at twelve, they fit together like two halves of the same star.


End file.
